A Roadmap to Nowhere

"There can be no peace for either side ... unless there is freedom for both," declared President George W Bush, as he introduced his roadmap for peace in the Middle East to an expectant world (1).

By "freedom" Bush means the people of the Middle East will be given strict instructions on how to resolve their conflict. The Palestinians will be told what kind of government to install, whom to elect, when to elect them, why to elect them, and what kind of politics to practise. The roadmap for peace lays the ground for relentless intervention by a "Quartet" of powers (the USA, the EU, the UN and Russia) to oversee the Middle East's transition from conflict to peace by no later than 2005. Freedom doesn't get a look-in.
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Sharon A, Sharon B and the dictator

This week, the prime minister offered a simple reply to a nagging question. The question: When all is said and done, are you serious about those "painful concessions" for peace? The reply: No.
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People and Politics / Sharon's Bantustans are far from Copenhagen's hope

During his visit two weeks ago to Israel, former Italian prime minister Massimo D'Alema hosted a small group of Israelis - public figures and former diplomats - to a dinner at a Jerusalem hotel.

The conversation quickly turned to the conciliatory interviews Prime Minister Ariel Sharon gave to the press for their Independence Day editions. One of the Israelis, of the type for whom it's second nature, no matter who is in government, to explain and defend Israeli policy, expressed full confidence in Sharon's peace rhetoric. He said the prime minister understands the solution to the conflict is the establishment of a Palestinian state beside Israel.

The former premier from the Italian left said that three or four years ago he had a long conversation with Sharon, who was in Rome for a brief visit. According to D'Alema, Sharon explained at length that the Bantustan model was the most appropriate solution to the conflict.

The defender of Israel quickly protested. "Surely that was your personal interpretation of what Sharon said."

D'Alema didn't give in. "No, sir, that is not interpretation. That is a precise quotation of your prime minister."
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The Bible is their 'Road Map'
Christian Zionists meet to plan strategy to spoil Bush's peace plan

In late March, President Bush invited more than 140 evangelical Christian leaders to the White House for a "private briefing" on the war with Iraq and other matters, the Washington Post's Dana Milbank reported nearly a month later. Given the surge of Christian Zionism in the U.S., will the President be extending another invitation to these leaders? If America's fundamentalist Christians have their druthers, they'll be holding a road-map-burning in the near future and President Bush's Middle East peace plan will melt away like last year's Hanukah candles.
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Survey: Israel hasn't yet grasped concept of democracy

More than half the Jewish population of Israel - 53 percent - is opposed to full equal rights for Israeli Arabs, according to a survey conducted last month by the Israel Democracy Institute.

The general conclusion of the survey, which is dubbed the "Israeli Democracy Survey" and will be conducted every year, is that Israel is basically a democracy in form more than in substance, and that it has yet to internalize fully the concept of democracy.
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